It was rally exciting to leave QUSQO (Cusco)on Friday 7.00am, headed for a 10 hour drive down to PUNO then onto the Highest navigable lake in the world....Titcaca/Titikaka....3810 metres above sea level.
Mlevi made this trip with Swiss house mate...
The Tourist bus was excellent....very comfortable...along the way, we made stops and visited places of interest....
The first stop was at an old colonial church in Andahuyhillas....the church was undergoing restoration....a very painstakingly slow process...but worth it as the art work on the walls simply should not be lost...
We then stopped by a pre-inca site(forget the name of area)..which even today looks totally untouched by the today's schinanigans...I could easily picture myself seating in the same spot 400 yrs ago..in this tranquil endroit....only then I would have been Inka...
We caught up with, and left behind, the train which shuttles from Cusco to Puno 3 times a week (10 hours ride...non stop)...Sounds like a familiar story from Mlevi's background...
Next was our lunch stop (somewhere)....this was my first contact (not on my lunch plate) with an Elpaca...hadn't even realized the animal existed...so soft and cuddly they are and sooooo cute
La Raya...the highest point between Puno and Qusqo provinces....so high it is that the mountains here have snow....amazing contrast against the yellow grass....
The last stop before Puno ws Pukkarra...The museum has interesting history of the extinct (thank god)cannibal community...that practiced human sacrifices...
The stone arrangement, for religious purposes, is very similar to that of Stonehenge in the UK, though the on in Pukkarra is at an earlier era....how uncanny..both great worshippers of the Sun, and Mother Earth but continents and eras apart.
On the roof tops, one can observe a pair of bulls, that I thought cute; these are for protection and prosperity...Many houses I notice have them.
We stayed in Puno for the night...strange town.. no real character,I struggled to get some interesting photos....
There was plenty of action from the protestors who have been blocking roads between the major cities of late...Something to do with miners not happy about the population of the environment during mining between Peru and Bolvia...not very clear to me...That Friday night, there were hundreds of them walking around Puno with their blankets ready for a cold night on the streets.....
The Police could also bee seen placed strategically...waiting...apparently these protests are not violent...
Well, we moved on to have a drink after dinner at a pub
called Deja Vu....a throw back to 400 years....the warm read vino tinto was great after a pico sour and a small Cusquena...Mlevi now really in comfort zone....Great music.
Back at the hotel...we discovered our lodgings were next to a disco.....so boom!!! boom!!It went on until 2pm....and worse for my travel mate....he had some very noisy neighbors on top of his room....1 hour, he timed....Lol
Again, I will repeat...Puno is totally uninspiring...buildings are haphazard...unfinished...something to do with not paying tax....
The ugliest town we saw though, was Julicana...just before Puno.....can't explain....but, not pleasant to the eye.
After a cup of coffee, we headed off to the jetty to catch our to the lake...we were to visit 3 islas
The first was Uros community, where the inhabitants live on artificial, floating islands made of totora reeds.
Reeds are literally life, here...they even eat them, peel like a banana..not very tasty....These islands are created, when the need arises, using reed...when the community expands....This is a community which was made landless by the Incas and so went to the water and had to survive by creating floating islands....awesome...tells you anything is possible
I think though, that today, they are mostly there for touristic reasons....and yea...they are quick to sell you stuff at very high rates....a boat ride (to nowhere) in one of their reed boats...just to get the feel, cost each one 10 soles.........ouch...to put the ouch! into perspective.....a bus ride from Puno to Cusco costs 25 soles, 8hrs compared to a 300 mtrs man powered ride....That was a scum...first class.....
Amantani Island was a 3 hour boat ride away....by now were joined to a group of American Uni students on a Geography trip...
The ride was great..sitting in the sun and experiencing being in the middle of no where.....
one of the students had a birthday...so we enjoyed a cake...cut up by my mate's swiss knife....what would we have done without that precious knife...????
Arriving on this 2nd Island...was should I say, a bit of a SHOCK.....? To get from the jetty to landing platform...was a steep, and i mean steep 100m climb....it was a sign of things to come....we were dived into families and handed over for lunch, a rest and then a climb...to the top of the hill...to see the community's religious place....The island is basic, no running water, but has solar lights...and it's FREEEEEZING at night.....Everything here is back to basics as in any rural african village...so for mlevi, the life style was not a new experience..
I could not believe how my lungs were put to the test.....half way up the house, having stopped several times, and abandoned my bag to my mate, thrown all dignity to the lake, I was very near violently demanding to return to now not so ugly Puno....the climb is steeeeeep.....I was breathing from the depth of my belly..and not to mention the butt....was seriously toned..
The climb to the top after lunch (45mins, about 1.5kms)was slightly better.... was sooooo tempted to horse ride there...but if a 71 yr old in our group could do it...surely it was matter over mind for me....so I clenched me butt, took a deep breath and focused my mind... and when I got there....the view and later the sunset were breath taking....
Later the stars at night were to behold...try to imagine the closest you can get to a star...they were brilliant, numerous...you could almost touch the Milky way....Add on to your picture a near full, perfectly silver moon....
I literally felt ON TOP OF THE WORLD....2 km above the highest navigable lake in the world....VAYA....
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